DR-770 or SR-16 drum machines

[GhostofJohnToad]

After some research into samplers and drum machines I have narrowed my choices to either the DR-770 or SR-16. I can get either for very close to the same price off ebay.

I need the machine to be able to send a completed midi drum song to my computer so I can spice up the pattern with some virtual instruments via cubase. Of these two what do you all reccomend? In my research I can't see a whole lot that differentiates these units except for the Sr-16 has less memory and the DR-770 is a little harder to tweak, but has more options for tone shaping of the drums. Based on this I am leaning toward the 770.

Any thoughts?

[mikespe]

Originally Posted by GhostofJohnToad

After some research into samplers and drum machines I have narrowed my choices to either the DR-770 or SR-16. I can get either for very close to the same price off ebay.

I need the machine to be able to send a completed midi drum song to my computer so I can spice up the pattern with some virtual instruments via cubase. Of these two what do you all reccomend? In my research I can't see a whole lot that differentiates these units except for the Sr-16 has less memory and the DR-770 is a little harder to tweak, but has more options for tone shaping of the drums. Based on this I am leaning toward the 770.

Any thoughts?

I have the DR-550 so take what I say with a grain of salt...I really like the machine and yes it is somewhat difficult to tweak. If you search ebay for DR-770 there is a guy that sells video tutorials for various drum machines. I got the one for the 550 and it helped a lot. However, you can get the video from MF but in my case the DR-550 video was only in VHS. This guy already copied it to DVD.

As for transferring midi to your computer...I am not sure about the DR-770 but with the 550 I just record the drum track using Audacity. That way I can save it to whatever format I wish.

I hope this helps!

[GhostofJohnToad]

Originally Posted by mikespe

I have the DR-550 so take what I say with a grain of salt...I really like the machine and yes it is somewhat difficult to tweak. If you search ebay for DR-770 there is a guy that sells video tutorials for various drum machines. I got the one for the 550 and it helped a lot. However, you can get the video from MF but in my case the DR-550 video was only in VHS. This guy already copied it to DVD.

As for transferring midi to your computer...I am not sure about the DR-770 but with the 550 I just record the drum track using Audacity. That way I can save it to whatever format I wish.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the info regarding the video. I did not know such a thing existed. I actually want to send just the midi song pattern so I can add my own sounds. Thanks.

[woodman]

i still use a DR-770 because, even though it takes a while to get the hang of tweaking it, it's much more flexible than loops. never used the MIDI function, but it's got the I/O jacks. make sure you get the manual -- it's very clear, well-indexed and detailed, with six pages on MIDI.

[StuH]

Why not a plugin like Battery or Guru? Or a rewire app like Reason or FL Studio?

[GhostofJohnToad]

I prefer the more hands on knob touchy feely sort of thing. Plus I'd spend more money for those programs than I would for the drum machine.

[woodman]

yeah, there's a visceral satisfaction to punching out your pattern in real time by banging on pads. i just get more feel from it than mousing and keyboard strokes.

plus: i don't know how many parameters these drum plug-ins have, but the 770 has deep features, most of which i've never touched, but they're there if you really wanna spend some time tricking out your drum tracks.